"I've been feeling middle aged," the 45-year-old said before introducing his opening act, Delta Spirit. "There's nothing wrong with that."

Once his magnetic, often monumental three-hour set began, the sold-out crowd of 16,000 that included plenty of graying middle-agers and people who were young enough to be their children (and often were) couldn't have agreed more.

Matthews — back at the former site of the 1969 Woodstock festival for the third time — is old enough to wear the jam band spirit of the '60s as naturally as he wore his plaid shirt and made a snippet of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" sound like his own, while still managing to sound innocent enough to get everyone singing sunny sentiments like "Everybody's happy/Everybody's free" as he did on one of the night's best tunes, "Typical Situation."

Yet his kinetic music is forward-looking enough to integrate everything from polyrhythmic, time-twisting jazz rhythms to syncopated jigs—often flavoring extended tunes like "Jimi Thing" or "Seek Up" with the rollicking lilt of his native South Africa.

As far as he and his five-piece band stretch and twist that music, it never strays too far out. It blends ripe melodies that are as lush as that green Bethel Woods lawn with dead-on funky beats — courtesy of drummer Carter Beauford and bassist Stefan Lessard — that are as sturdy as the Catskill mountains framing the manicured grounds.

Add Matthews' lithe vocal acrobatics, which included some jazzy scatting and fluttering falsettos, and the Dave Matthews Band served up something for just about everyone in the set that began with "Grace is Gone," ended with "Grey Street" and included new tunes and familiar ones like "Satellite," "Proudest Monkey" and "Funny the Way It Is."

"It's happy music," said Potsdam's Carrie Whalen, who came to Bethel with her 14-year-old daughter, Eve, who "grew up" with Matthews' music.

"The improvisation is just ridiculous," said Long Island's Andrew Steinberger, 33, referring especially to violinist Boyd Tinsley's flights of fiddling fancy. He estimated he's seen Matthews 180 times.

When all of those diverse ingredients that made the Dave Matthews Band the most popular touring act of the last decade came together — as they often did on this sweet summer night — this middle aged man creates rock music for the ages.